Artist Talk with Stef Van Looveren & Michele Occelli
19:00 - 20:00, Free Entrance
At a time of growing polarization, multidisciplinary artist Stef Van Looveren and performer/hypnotherapist Michele Occelli emphasize the urgency of trance and creative practice. By sustaining ambiguity and encouraging non-binary ways of thinking and relating, they suggest alternative ways of inhabiting the body and engaging the world.
The Front Row talk explores in-betweenness as a shared conceptual and embodied framework within contemporary art and hypnosis. They examine how states of suspension—between self and other, inner and outer, form and formlessness—create space for transformation. Key ideas include non-binary embodiment, interconnection, and the symbolic figure of the divine androgyne (Rebis), alongside the alchemical principle of solve et coagula.
Trance is described here as a threshold where fixed identities soften and oppositions dissolve. In this reflective state of melting and re-forming, perception becomes fluid and relational. Artistic practice and hypnosis are presented as parallel embodied methods that cultivate altered attention and somatic awareness, enabling transformation across inner experience and outward form.
Additionally, Michele Occelli will lead a performative session centered on hypnosis and trance. This unique experience takes place on Saturday, March 28th at 15:00, set directly within Stef Van Looveren’s site-specific installation.
FRONT ROW is a monthly series of artist’s talks jointly organised by Muhka and NICC. Serving as an open format to artists – whether a talk, a presentation of an idea, a lecture performance – the programme offers the opportunity to reflect on art, culture and society by some of the most thought-provoking artists practising today.
With support from Vitra Partner Store.
Practicalities
Free admission (access to the exhibition galleries not included)
Held in the M HKA auditorium (unless otherwise stated), 3rd floor.
Every last Thursday of the month, 19:00–20:00, during M HKA Late.
FRONT ROW is co-organised by Muhka and the artist-run platform NICC through a shared basis in supporting artists, nurturing international perspectives, and being generators of discussion. M HKA and NICC warmly welcome you to this monthly series of discussions.
https://www.muhka.be/en/activities/front-row-spring-2026/
https://www.eventbrite.be/e/front-row-artist-talk-met-stef-van-looveren-en-michele-occelli-tickets-1984546951354?aff=oddtdtcreator
Artists: Stef Van Looveren, Michele Occelli
